


Ends With Benefits

by Cowboy_Sneep_Dip



Category: Fire Emblem: Fuukasetsugetsu | Fire Emblem: Three Houses
Genre: F/F, Fire Emblem: Three Houses Black Eagles Route Spoilers, Fluff and Smut, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Intimacy, Light Dom/sub, Post-Canon, Scars, Top Edelgard von Hresvelg, Trans Female Character, i cant believe this is a tag but, trans!byleth
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-09
Updated: 2019-12-09
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:21:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,239
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21736753
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cowboy_Sneep_Dip/pseuds/Cowboy_Sneep_Dip
Summary: Years after the battle for Fodlan's soul concludes, Edelgard and Byleth live a quiet life, retired from politics and war. Long-since retired from life in Enbarr, the pair make a quick stop in the city before a romantic getaway.
Relationships: Edelgard von Hresvelg/My Unit | Byleth
Comments: 4
Kudos: 185





	Ends With Benefits

**Author's Note:**

> Hey folks! Sorry I haven't been posting fic as much. If you follow me on social media, you probably know I've been working on an original novel! If not, you probably don't care about life updates. Anyways, have some post-game Edeleth smut. Thanks to @softprettygirl on tumblr for commissioning me!

It is the Wyvern Moon, and autumn has come to Adrestia. It isn’t the Adrestian Empire, not anymore - not since the former Emperor had dissolved the oppressive power structures of empires and kingdoms and churches, and now it is Adrestia alone. More formally, the Republic of Adrestia, but no one bothers with the full title. The trees in the streets of Enbarr turn golden red and fill the canals and rivers with rippling films of leaves, children run in the streets in their winter clothes, and merchants close up their stalls to relocate indoors, out of the wind and the cold. 

Edelgard sits on a wrought-iron bench and watches leaves drift by in the canal. 

She isn’t Emperor, not anymore, though it takes deliberate effort to hide herself when she returns to Enbarr, to speak with Hubert and Ferdinand and the other nobles left to manage the politics that she herself has long since sworn off. 

She tugs her cloak tighter. It’s a simple thing, brown with gold trim, a hood to obscure her stark white hair. The sun glints off the canal, turning it to gold, and she cautiously lowers her hood.

It’s nice to feel the wind on her face, to smell the leaves and water and the brickwork, the scents of fall and festivities. She closes her eyes and inhales deeply. After so long smelling naught but blood and fire and rotting iron, it’s nice to revel in the normalcy of it all. The feeling of the cold iron beneath her - not captivating, but freeing. A bench from which to sit and watch the world that she helped save roll by, on wind and waves and in the rustling of leaves.

She opens her eyes.

“How long have you been standing there?” she asks to the cool air. 

Byleth laughs and sits next to her, her arms wrapped around a paper bag loaded to bear with groceries. They wouldn’t be in Enbarr for long - just a week or so, before departing for Brigid to visit with the queen - but Byleth had insisted that they cook their own meals and not subsist on honey-cakes and spiced meat skewers from street vendors. 

“Just a few minutes,” she smiles. “You looked so peaceful.”

Edelgard smiles, her pale lips chapped by the cool breeze. She leans her head in and presses a gentle, chaste kiss to Byleth’s chin. “It’s strange to be back, for certain.”

“I ran into Linhardt in the market,” Byleth says. “Well, tripped over him, I suppose. He was sleeping in the corner of a bookstore.”

Edelgard giggles, and her voice is light, musical. “That’s just like him.” 

“Well,” Byleth stands, slinging her bag of groceries under one arm, standing up, and offering her hand for Edelgard to take. “The inn awaits, milady.” 

Edelgard gives a fake protest and gently nudges her hand away. “What did I tell you about calling me that?” 

“Oh!” Byleth frowns, readjusting her cargo. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay,” Edelgard smiles, slipping her hand out of her cloak and twining her fingers through Byleth’s. Her gloves are cool, silken, giving her an almost inhuman touch. “It’s this way, right?” 

The two of them walk the streets of Enbarr, hand in hand. They don’t speak - they usually don’t, when they’re in public. Edelgard keeps her hood up, her long white hair tied back to hide its distinctive color, and they’re both lost in private thoughts. 

Edelgard tries not to hate being in Enbarr, but it’s very difficult. She focuses on everything around her - the sights, the sounds, the smells, the feeling of Byleth’s hand in her own, anything to try and blot out the old memories, to replace them with something newer, kinder, softer. The future that she won would be shadowed by her past, always, but one day she hoped she might walk the Adrestian capital without flinching at the sound of passing guards or scraping iron. 

Byleth squeezes her hand and gives her a reassuring smile. 

Her bright eyes are soft, friendly, understanding. Edelgard squeezes her hand back.

The room they rented for the week is at an inn off the main road, just past the entertainment district. They follow the canal, pass the opera house, and finally, as the sun begins skimming the city walls and threatening to drop below them, they reach their destination. A squarish sandstone building with a little courtyard set up with tables and chairs. In the summer, flowers bloom in the gardens, but now it is nothing but scraggly bushes losing their lustre as the weather turns colder. 

Byleth picks up their key at the front desk and finally, in the privacy and safety of their rented apartments, Edelgard allows herself to relax. She tugs her cloak off and hangs it on the hook by the door before tugging off her gloves and unbuttoning her jacket. 

Byleth takes her hand and presses a kiss to her bare skin.

The flesh under Byleth’s lips is scuffed, crisscrossed with white scars. Edelgard blushes and turns her head. “I thought you were making dinner?” 

-

Edelgard stretches in bed and watches moonlight stream in through the window. 

Some habits of nobility are hard to rid herself of, and she shivers. Her silken shift is beautiful, opaque enough to hide the scar on her back and torso, but gosh it sure doesn’t keep her warm. She slips out of bed quietly and pads to the window to close it and draw the curtains.

“Can’t sleep?” Byleth cocks her head playfully, resting on one elbow in the bed.

Edelgard smiles and finishes drawing the curtains. “Well, if you’re awake too, I’m sure we can find ways to occupy ourselves.” 

Byleth grins and props herself up on both elbows, watching as Edelgard paces the length of the room and circles the bed to Byleth’s side. 

“Did you have something in mind, mi-” Byleth stops herself. “My El?” 

Edelgard stops at the bedside and leans forward to press a kiss to Byleth’s forehead, and then trail her lips down. Before hers brush Byleth’s, she pushes Byleth back. 

“Oh,” Byleth says. Her eyes are wide and glinting in the darkness. Edelgard pushes her down to the mattress and mounts her, one hand pressing her shoulder back against the bed.

“Problem?”

“N-no,” Byleth says, and Edelgard can practically feel the heat coming off her burning cheeks. 

Edelgard smiles and takes Byleth’s face in her hands, tilting her upwards for a kiss.

Byleth’s lips are wet, warm, and inviting, the heat of her urging Edelgard closer. And Edelgard complies. She kisses Byleth, hard. Byleth’s soft warmth is met with a fierceness, a control that Edelgard usually reserves for the battlefield alone. But with no battles left to fight, all her nervous energy is contained, rippling outwards as she pins Byleth to the bed, the weight of her small against Byleth’s frame, made up for with the solid muscle of her body.

Even after all this time, the muscle hasn’t faded, hasn’t softened. The knife edge of the perfectly bred weapon has yet to dull. 

Byleth drapes a hand over Edelgard’s lower back, her fingertips dancing under the hem of her shift, brushing the pale marks down her spine.

Edelgard shivers and reacts with a practiced stoicism, gently nudging her hand back. “A little eager?” 

Byleth blinks at her and slides her hand back down to its place on the bed, allowing Edelgard to keep her arms pinned.

“There’s a good girl,” Edelgard grins, kissing her again. 

She leans over Byleth and pins her to the bed, straddling her as she reaches up to pull her shift over her shoulders, exposing her pale skin to the dim light.

Byleth pushes herself up to press her lips into the divot between Edelgard’s breasts, but Edelgard pushes her back. “No,” she says, her soft voice given an edge of command. 

It’s not just playful control - it’s necessary for Edelgard to feel safe, to feel like she has absolute power in this space. She does - Byleth is far too concerned with her well-being to reject any of her commands, but they both enjoy the dynamic of play as Edelgard reaches down and tips Byleth’s chin up and drops her head to kiss her.

Byleth’s lips are soft and Edelgard’s hand trembles against her chin. 

“Good girl,” Edelgard breathes again, into Byleth’s mouth.

Byleth lifts her hands, slowly, brushing against the bare skin of Edelgard’s sides. The question is implicit but Edelgard gives it voice. “May I, milady?” 

“I told you not to call me that,” Edelgard frowns, brushing her hands down. She kneels on Byleth’s prone frame and kisses Byleth’s collarbone, the soft skin nicked with scars. She tugs her nightshirt lower, exposing more skin to kiss. “My light,” she kisses her again. 

“My heart,” Byleth says, pressing her lips to the top of Edelgard’s head. Edelgard bites Byleth, softly at first, sinking her teeth into the tender flesh of her collar, and Byleth murmurs a gasp.

Edelgard’s teeth are sharp, vicious when she wants them to be, but now they are gentle as she presses marks into Byleth’s flesh, nipping at her neck, her ear, kissing her lips tenderly. She slips her tongue into the warm of Byleth’s mouth and reaches a hand down to snare the hem of Byleth’s nightshirt. She snakes her hand upwards, running it up the taut shape of Byleth’s abs and resting it in the valley between her breasts. She can feel Byleth’s heartbeat, a gentle thumping that builds in intensity the more Edelgard kisses her, the harder she does. The more her lips sink into Byleth’s teeth. 

“El,” Byleth breathes against her.

Edelgard grins and pushes Byleth back against the bed’s headboard, snagging the hem of Byleth’s shirt and tugging it open, button by button, until the soft white fabric drapes over her shoulders. Edelgard kisses her breast, her lips barely separated from that heartbeat thrumming so loud in her chest. 

Edelgard nips at her skin and Byleth gasps. She wraps her lips around the stiff flesh of Byleth’s nipple and bites, making Byleth groan. 

Edelgard’s lips tilt into a smile as she kisses her, one hand reaching lower, down to the hem of her pants, her fingertips dancing over the waistband, stroking her flesh. Like most of Byleth’s body - most of both of their bodies - it’s scarred, a jagged mark where an arrow had grazed her stomach. Edelgard dances her fingertips lower, brushing the patch of wiry hair beneath her shortpants. 

“El,” Byleth breathes again, slumping back against the headboard. 

Edelgard tilts her head upwards and catches Byleth’s lips in her mouth, muffling her voice. 

Intimacy was a difficult thing to establish. Byleth and Edelgard are both such reserved people, so internal, that even being so brazen as to kiss each other in public was something that took deliberate practice. It’s strange to think about in retrospect, but Edelgard remembers a time when she wasn’t even bold enough to hold Byleth’s hand in public.

It’s frightening, to bare yourself to another. 

But Byleth and Edelgard are not others. They are halves of a whole. Edelgard traces Byleth’s scars with the pad of her thumb, brushing along the ridges of notched skin. Some are old, some are new. Some from before Byleth and Edelgard met, some from after. Some are battle wounds, and some - Edelgard laughs softly and presses a kiss to a scar on the back of Byleth’s hand - inflicted when Byleth slipped getting out of a cart on a rainy day when they were grocery shopping. 

Neither had felt a battle wound in some time, but the scars linger.

Byleth delicately rubs a hand along Edelgard’s spine, tracing a surgical scar along its length, drawing a shudder from Edelgard. She shifts forward, kissing Byleth again, pressing their bodies together. 

Edelgard pushes Byleth back and kisses her, hard.

Intimacy is easier to navigate behind a mask, and Edelgard has practiced wearing one for much of her life. 

“Down,” she commands, and Byleth obeys, slipping off the covers and kneeling on the floor at the bedside. Edelgard sits in front of her, legs spread. 

Byleth looks up at her, a neutral expression on her face.

It’s always been difficult to gauge Byleth’s reactions to things. Edelgard scoots forward and rests a hand on Byleth’s head. “Well?” 

Byleth leans forward and presses a kiss to the bottom of Edelgard’s stomach. She trails her lips down, to her waist, and then lower. More scars, and shock-white hair. For Byleth to even be so close, Edelgard needs assurance of complete control. Byleth brushes her lips against the inside of Edelgard’s thigh, and Edelgard clutches a fistful of her dark teal hair and tugs. “Stop.”

Byleth obeys, looking upwards expectantly.

“Good girl,” Edelgard coos, running a hand through her hair. “Good girl.” She can feel heat coiling between her legs, a tension threatening to burst. Byleth’s breath brushes the inside of her thighs, tickling her, making her legs quiver. Edelgard swallows and lets her grip on Byleth’s hair go, allowing Byleth to lean forward and press a gentle, explorative kiss to the warm wetness between Edelgard’s legs. Edelgard sighs and leans back on her hands, groaning with pleasure and Byleth kisses her, licks her, braces herself against Edelgard’s legs for leverage.

“Oh, B-Byleth,” Edelgard exhales, sighing. “Oh, gods…” 

Byleth grips Edelgard’s tense, muscular calves, massaging the pale, scarred flesh. Even there, her skin is notched. It’s impossible to tell what is the precise marks of a scalpel or the blunt cut of a sword, but the result is all the same - where Edelgard should be soft, tender, delicate, she is instead tense, scarred, and muscular. She wraps her legs around Byleth’s head and tugs her mouth closer against her, Byleth’s tongue winding in and out of her, drawing gasps and sighs. Edelgard tangles her hands in Byleth’s hair, tugging her head against her rhythmically. 

Her tongue is skilled, delicate, precise in a way Byleth’s voice is not. She laps at Edelgard, and Edelgard sighs, whimpers, the coiling pressure and heat in her abdomen growing like dragon’s fire in her veins. She gasps, louder than she means to, and tug’s Byleth’s head back.

“Enough,” she breathes, the sharp edge of her voice dulled by her panting. “Up.”

Byleth obeys, standing, and Edelgard is splayed on the bed before her, naked, panting, wanting. 

She urges her legs open and stares at Byleth’s body - undressed from the waist up. Edelgard reaches a delicate hand out and snags the hem of Byleth’s pants. “Undress,” she commands, snapping the waistband.

“Yes, mi-” Byleth stops herself and does as she’s told, tugging her pants down.

Edelgard stares, still panting, as Byleth disrobes. She reaches down, playfully, and brushes her fingers along the length of Byleth’s stiff cock. “Good,” she grins playfully.

Byleth whimpers slightly as Edelgard strokes her, a crack forming in Byleth’s mask of stoicism. She closes her eyes and sighs as Edelgard wraps her slender, delicate fingers around Byleth’s cock and gently rubs her. 

Edelgard coos her praises as she pushes herself up, reaching out to tug Byleth closer. She keeps one hand on her cock and the other tugs Byleth into position to press a kiss to her breast, and the other hand shifts around to knead the warm, soft flesh of Byleth’s chest. 

Byleth groans and her legs quiver. 

“P-please,” she mutters softly. 

“Patience, dearest,” Edelgard grins, tilting her head up. Byleth droops her head to meet Edelgard’s lips, and Edelgard pulls Byleth closer, close enough for her cock to brush the warm slit between Edelgard’s legs. 

Byleth gasps at the contact with wetness and lurches. Edelgard kisses her, harder, and grasps her hard, tugging her inwards. They both groan as Byleth slips inside. 

“G-gods,” Byleth mutters, breathing into Edelgard’s mouth. 

Edelgard leans back on the bed and tugs Byleth on top of her, spreading her legs and wrapping them around the tense muscle of Byleth’s back. They rock back and forth, together, lips and teeth and tongues nipping at the other, pushing their bodies together, puzzle pieces entwined in a whirl of flesh and warmth. 

“There’s my girl,” Edelgard grins, leaning back and reaching with one hand to grasp the headboard of the bed to stabilize them. “Oh, gods, Byleth…”

“El,” Edelgard says again, the name dripping from her lips as she grinds against Edelgard’s midsection. She’s warm, and wet, and oh, gods Byleth wants it. Edelgard reaches out and grasps Byleth’s breasts, both hands gently rubbing the stiff sensitive nipples while her tongue plunges into Byleth’s mouth. Byleth groans and her legs shake, only able to keep her so steady as Edelgard assaults her everything, her mouth and her cock and her skin, teeth and lips and her taste and her scent, and Byleth shakes as she rocks back and forth, pushing in and out. 

Edelgard moans and leans back, tugging away from Byleth’s mouth with a wet pop, Byleth’s saliva on her lips and tongue. Edelgard grins at her, gasping for breath, urging her faster, hotter, deeper. 

The coiling in her stomach is reaching a breaking point, a volcano primed to erupt, thunder rippling through the pale clouds of her skin. Edelgard braces herself against Byleth and cries out, waves of pleasure breaking over her and crashing down. She muffles herself by biting into the crook of Byleth’s shoulder where the joint meets her neck, and Byleth cries out too, with a gasp and a lurch. She wrap her arms around Edelgard and holds her close as she spasms, spilling out hot and wet and sticky inside her. Edelgard is small, almost fragile in the face of the Ashen Demon’s thrusting. But she is not the Ashen Demon - she is Byleth, and she holds her wife tenderly as they both pant and gasp for breath, collapsing into a sweaty, tangled heap of sticky skin on the bed. 

Edelgard slumps against the headboard and Byleth rests in her arms as Edelgard combs her fingers through Byleth’s hair, brushing out the sweaty tangles.

Byleth closes her eyes and listens to Edelgard’s heartbeat, the soft, regular thumping still audible over Edelgard’s gasping breath.

“Th-that was-”

“Good,” Byleth cuts her off, flatly. She kisses Edelgard’s chest and tilts her head up. 

“Good?” Edelgard grins down at her and lifts a pale, scarred hand to wipe wet stickiness from her mouth. 

Byleth takes her hand and kisses it, her lips soft and gentle against rough skin. “You didn’t need to stop at all,” Byleth smiles. 

Edelgard smiles, too. “Hm. I suppose I didn’t.”

“Is my queen getting used to intimacy?” Byleth teases, sliding up and kissing her nose. 

“I told you not to call me th-MMPH,” Edelgard’s protest is muffled by Byleth kissing her. 

“Am I not allowed to name the queen of my heart?”

Edelgard blushes deeply and tucks her face down into her shoulder. “I’d prefer no political titles.”

“Teacher, then?” Byleth grins.

Edelgard squeals and pushes her back, tackling her and kissing her as Byleth laughs. 

“Fine, fine,” Byleth concedes as her wife curls up against her chest. “Not the queen of my heart, but my heart itself.”

“Mm,” Edelgard coos, worn out and tired. She leans against Byleth’s chest. “I will...allow it,” she manages to say between yawns. Byleth holds her, gently, and in the soft moonlight, Edelgard allows herself to be lulled to sleep by the muted metronome of Byleth’s pulse. Safe in her arms, always. 

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Once again, thanks to @softprettygirl. If you want to say hey, I'm on twitter @cowboy_sneep and on tumblr @lucisevofficial!


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